The IPL has surprised everyone so far, says Pranav Gandhi

Ten days ago if anyone had told me that this is how the IPL season would begin, I would have thought they were on the Charlie Sheen diet.

Nothing could be better for the tournament, of course. The league is wide open and anyone could win this thing.

The objective for teams in a sports event with this format is to make the playoffs. Once you are in the post season, anything can happen. Just ask Superbowl Champions, the New York Giants.

The best way to start a tournament like this is to win 5 of your first 7 or 8 matches. Playing catch-up later is never easy. You are forced to play under more pressure, sometimes your fate depends on what other teams do and everyone is playing to stay alive. It’s an uphill battle.

It’s still early but Bangalore, Punjab and Deccan look like they will be playing catch-up for most of the tournament. The big shock here is, of course, Bangalore. They look like one of the best teams on paper, but if their bowlers can’t defend a 200+ score (Chennai) and allow teams to score 195 (Rajasthan), then I don’t care what storm Gayle creates, they aren’t going to win. Their net run rate is going to hurt them as crunch time approaches.

Chennai is another team that looks like they may have to come from behind. They may appear stronger than Bangalore on paper, but have looked out of sorts where it matters. And it could have been even worse. If it wasn’t for a miracle performance by Albie Morkel the two-time defending champs would be at 1-4.

Then you have Pune and Rajasthan, two teams who along with Deccan and Punjab were supposed to be at the basement of the points table. Both were highly underestimated sides but that’s what has made their runs so far amazing to watch. And don’t forget, Pune still is awaiting Michael Clarke and Rajasthan will get Shane Watson. Scary!

Deccan has only played two games, so it is tough to judge. I would bet on Deccan being at the bottom of the table but then I would have bet on Pune being there as well. So I’ll hold off until the Chargers play some more.

Punjab is another team people expected to do badly. They are 2-2, which is not too bad considering the league leader Rajasthan is only at 3-2.

The bottom line is that you can comfortably throw out any pre-season predictions you made. IPL V is anyone’s to win. The T20 game can also be swung by a single individual performance.

Everyone still says that this is a long tournament and a few losses here and there don’t matter, but Chennai has finished almost a third of their league matches. From here on out, every match matters even more as we slowly get down to the wire. Anyone who doesn’t understand that will be the bubble team.